Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The United States Patent and Trademark Office is teaming up with US pharmaceutical company Pfizer to hold a workshop in Mumbai, India on 9 September on “intellectual property and innovation in the pharmaceutical industry.” Presentations at the non-governmental session will…
A United States publisher of open source college textbooks – licensed under Creative Commons and fully remixable – has seen interest in its service increase more than 30-fold in the past several months, according to a press release [pdf] by…
A potentially paradigm-shifting legal case that could restrict the granting of business method patents in the United States, Bilski v. Doll has attracted the attention of policy makers world-wide, who expect its outcome to influence the international patent system (IPW,…
A World Trade Organization panel has found China has not respected some international trade obligations in a dispute brought by the United States alleging unfair treatment by China of US publications and audiovisual products, the WTO said on 12 August.…
A group of US congressional members have sent a letter to US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke calling for a temporary arrangement between the Department of Commerce (DOC) and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (which manages technical aspects…
Online auction site eBay, the owner of popular, proprietary voice-over-internet protocol software Skype, has warned that the service might not continue if it loses an intellectual property dispute with Joltid, the company from which it licences Skype’s core technology. “If…
The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing to consider the nomination of David J. Kappos to be the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the US Patent and Trademark Office. The hearing is being held…
Joel Tenenbaum, who is involved in a high-profile challenge of the music industry’s suit against him on the charge of unauthorised sharing of music, has written an editorial about his experiences of intimidation tactics. It is available from the Guardian…
The French National Assembly vote on a bill to protect literary and artistic intellectual property rights online has been pushed back to September, according to a source at the Assembly. The bill passed the French Senate on 8 July (IPW,…
Global research funding for HIV vaccine decreased by 10 percent in 2008 from the previous year, representing the first time the levels have fallen since investment trends have been tracked, according to a new report. The report was released this…
The latest round of negotiations for an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) held in Rabat, Morocco on 16-17 July resulted in the announcement that after closed-door discussions on transparency, the only agreement reached on transparency was to release draft agendas of…
From the ip-health listserv Friday, an internal communication from World Health Organization Director General Margaret Chan announcing a change in staff responsible for innovation and intellectual property issues. On 1 August, Elil Renganathan of Malaysia, the current director of Public…